I have been conditioning in the kegerator, but so that I have plenty of time to condition, and not ever run out of homebrew, I need to get a couple more cornys and have them conditioning outside of the kegerator if that's possible.. I don't have the moola nor space at the moment to buy another fridge, but I have an extra 5# CO2 bottle, and could probably scrape up the cash for another regulator and a couple shut offs..

The reason I'm thinking this might be possible, is that I've read elsewhere that you can store your bottled beer at room temp while it conditions in the bottles.. So I'm thinking you should be able to do it in the keg too...

I could then move them into the kegerator anywhere form a couple days to a week or two before I drink them...

Is this something that is recommended? If so, do I use the same pressure that I would in the kegerator, or is it different when it's warmer?

Thanks....

__________________"DOH!"
Homer Simpson

"Beer is living proof that God loves us, and wants us to be happy."(possibly said by)Ben Franklin (maybe)

Quote:

Originally Posted by arturo7

Damn, where's my arm?.

"You can pick your nose, and you can pick your friends... but you can't pick your friends nose!"
George Carlin

If you have time to wait a few weeks for conditioning, you're better off just priming your keg and letting it condition/carbonate naturally at room temp, just like you would with bottles, although it seems to take just a bit longer (in my limited experience). If you go this route, note that you use less sugar than you do when bottling a batch.

To answer your question, your CO2 pressure has to be a LOT higher at room temp if you want to force carbonate...there are charts available to figure it out based upon temperature.

If you have an extra CO2 bottle, why would you want to use sugar? Yes, you can carb at room temp. The pressure required is closer to 27-30psi and in 2-3 weeks, it's ready to drop into the kegger and start serving.

That's what someone was suggesting is better.. I wouldn't know, as I've never done it yet...

So then once in the kegger, it blows off the extra pressure as soon as the tap is opened? Or does a couple days at the lower pressure and serving temp automatically adjust the beer?

Just to clarify, I wasn't suggesting that this was a better process, but better given your circumstances (i.e. you had a few weeks to burn and did not have an additional regulator...a CO2 bottle alone does you little good). It was simply presented as a viable option that would not cost you anything. If money's no object, certainly buy another regulator, etc. and force carb.

To answer your other question above, the few times I have primed a keg, I have used 1/3 cup of sugar. This was for American style ales and they were all slightly undercarbonated, IMO, but close to and reached desired carb levels after a couple of days on serving pressure.

it would have to be someone who understands the physics involved....and that would not be me.

so i'm no PhD, but from what I understand it's all about headspace. If you think about it, in each bottle is a tiny bit of head space...not much, but multiplied by 40 or so and thats a lot of space. In a keg (hopefully at least), there won't be all that head space because the keg will be filled. Therefore, when carbonating CO2 is released in the keg and instead of first entering the headspace as happens in the bottle, the gas can more or less go right into solution. This lack of head space means that less gas needs to be produced=less sugar.

i haven't keg carbed/conditioned yet, but plan to with a saison that should be done with primary in about 1.5 weeks. From what I hear, sitting on all those lees while carbonating will produce some great estery notes